Les Arques

Before we left home I read the book “From Here You Can’t See Paris”, written by an American who spent a year writing about and working in the restaurant La Recreation in the tiny village of Les Arques. By coincidence it turned out to be only 15 km from our base in Villefranche. The village’s main claim to fame is that it houses a museum dedicated to the sculptor Ossip Zadkine, a Russian who moved to Paris and later bought a country home in Les Arques. The museum was small but fascinating; no photos allowed inside but Zadkine’s works also decorate the village church and its courtyard.  The road into Les Arques is “how could this possibly be 2 cars wide?” and scary, but we were so pleased we made the effort to go, it was excellent.

‘Tree of the Three Graces’

Zadkine Museum

‘Pieta’ in the church crypt

‘Harlequin Howling’

Largest building in the village; used to be the Town Hall